Maiden Innings

Former cricketer Manoj Prabhakar is making the most of his beauty business

It’s something you wouldn’t think a former cricketer can be eloquent about. But Manoj Prabhakar speaks about pimples, acne and pigmentation with the same ease as he would if bowling a medium pacer! It’s a role, the cricketer says he has slipped into rather effortlessly. “I have after all being doing this for 13 years now,” tells Prabhakar who is the managing director of Naturence, a Delhi-based company that’s into manufacture of beauty products and cosmetics. In Chandigarh to launch a new range and conduct a beauty workshop, Prabhakar was happy to dish out all you need to know about hair and skin treatments! “I am totally into beauty…you have to in order to run a successful beauty enterprise,” says the former cricketer who along with wife and cosmetologist Farheen Prabhakar have been training beauticians across the country for many years now. “I don’t address them as beauticians but as beauty doctors since they know skin and hair problems inside out,” Prabhakar points out. So what got him interested in the business of beauty? To this the former cricketer bowls a straight answer: “It seemed like the right thing to do. With my wife being a well-known and well-travelled cosmetologist, we make a good team.”

With an increasing number of cricketers deciding to air out their hidden talent, there’s the likes of Sreesanth, Harbhajan and Irfan on a dance reality show on television to others making the most of Bollywood connections (remember Ajay Jadeja?), Prabhakar has been a trendsetter of sorts. “As long as a cricketer’s focus is his game, there should be no eyebrows raised on his off the field activities,” feels the bowler who hasn’t really let go of his cricket. “Not many are aware but I am the coach for the Delhi Ranji team and I would like to be given responsibility for much more,” the cricketer finally speaks up. But lots changed since his times. “Yes, there’s ICL and IPL now. Though both might be at loggerheads, I feel it shouldn’t be. The idea behind both is the same, why should the BCCI act tough with ICL players,” he makes his opinions loud and clear. For someone who has had enough controversy to deal with, the player’s moved on well. “I am straddling life both as a businessman and as a coach. Cricket will always be a part of my life. It’s my first love after all,” he says before heading off for the beauty workshop to elucidate on ways to deal with hair fall and dark under eye shadows!